September 2017

Tunisian police beat reporter, seize his equipment at protest

September 26, 2017 10:38 AM ET

Tunisian police beat Hamdi al-Souissi, a reporter for the local radio station Diwan FM, seized Souissi's recording equipment, detained him, and questioned him for two hours at a precinct in in the country's eastern city of Sfax, on September 18, 2017, local media reported....

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 24, 2017

September 25, 2017 10:32 AM ET

Cumhuriyet journalist released, still faces trial Turkish authorities yesterday ordered the release of Kadri Gürsel, a columnist and publishing adviser for the Cumhuriyet and the Turkish National Committee chair of the International Press Institute, who is on trial for terrorism-related charges, Cumhuriyet and Agence France-Presse reported....

Syrian-American journalist killed in Turkey

September 22, 2017 1:51 PM ET

New York, September 22, 2017--Syrian-American journalist Halla Barakat and her mother, Syrian opposition activist Orouba Barakat, were found dead yesterday in their Istanbul apartment, the Turkish news agency DHA reported today. Friends alerted the police when Halla Barakat, 23, did not show up for her reporting job at the...

Local reporter beaten to death in northeastern India

September 21, 2017 3:33 PM ET

New Delhi, September 21, 2017--Indian authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Shantanu Bhowmik, a reporter for the local Bengali-language Dinraat news channel, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

Journalists Not Terrorists

Journalists Not Terrorists

September 20, 2017 8:00 AM ET

In Cameroon, anti-terror legislation is used to silence critics and suppress dissent A light breakfast of an omelet and a cup of black coffee eaten on the trot: Little did Radio France Internationale correspondent Ahmed Abba know it would be his last meal as a free man. Abba had...

Journalists Not Terrorists: In Cameroon, anti-terror legislation is used to silence critics and suppress dissent

September 20, 2017 8:00 AM ET

In 2014, Cameroon enacted a broad anti-terror law as part of its effort to counter the extremist group Boko Haram, but authorities are using it to arrest and threaten local journalists who report on the militants or unrest in the country’s English-speaking regions. A presidential decree in August 2017...

Cameroon publisher detained for more than eight months

September 18, 2017 6:11 PM ET

Police arrested Mofor Ndong, the Bamenda-based publisher of the independent bi-monthly newspaper, Voice of the Voiceless, on February 9, 2017 in Buea, the capital of Cameroon's English-speaking Southwest region, according to media reports....

Calls for Republic of the Congo president to free jailed Talassa editor

September 18, 2017 11:25 AM ET

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontières write to Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, about Ghys Fortuné Dombé Bemba, editor of the privately owned newspaper Talassa, who has been jailed without charge since January.

Bangladesh detains two Myanmar journalists covering Rohingya crisis

September 15, 2017 5:42 PM ET

New York, September 15, 2017--Bangladeshi authorities should immediately release two Myanmar journalists who police detained on September 7 and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

Photojournalist charged with terrorism in Turkey

September 15, 2017 3:39 PM ET

New York, September 15, 2017--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Turkish authorities to immediately release photojournalist Çağdaş Erdoğan, and drop the anti-state charges against him. An Istanbul court on September 13 formally charged Erdoğan with terrorism, according to the volunteer journalist collective 140journos....

Somali journalist dies after suicide bomber targets café

September 14, 2017 5:54 PM ET

Nairobi, September 14--Somali broadcast journalist Abdullahi Osman Moalim died yesterday from injuries sustained on September 10 when a suicide bomber attacked a café in Beldweyne where members of the press gather, Somalia's Minister of Information, Abdirahman Omar Osman, and the journalist's colleagues, told CPJ....

Moroccan video blogger sentenced to 10 months in prison

September 14, 2017 1:45 PM ET

A Moroccan court on August 18, 2017 sentenced video blogger Mohamed Taghra to 10 months in prison for criminal defamation after he published a report on local police corruption in the country's central Souss-Massa region, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information and the Arab Bloggers Union reported....

From power cuts to powerful threats, Venezuela's indigenous journalists face a series of challenges in their reporting

September 13, 2017 5:14 PM ET

Three twentysomethings huddle over a desk in a small room in Tucupita, a low-slung city of about 90,000 people that spills across the Orinoco river delta region in northeastern Venezuela. Far from the tear gas and street conflicts roiling cities including Caracas and Valencia, these journalists are focused on...

Montenegrin journalist threatened

September 13, 2017 4:05 PM ET

New York, September 13, 2017--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Montenegrin authorities to ensure the safety of Vladimir Otasevic, a reporter with the national opposition daily newspaper Dan (Day)....

Pakistan charges two journalists under anti-terror law

September 12, 2017 2:42 PM ET

Pakistani authorities charged two journalists with publishing and distributing anti-state material on September 20, 2016, according to a member of a local nongovernmental organization who is familiar with the case but did not want to be named for fear of retribution. Authorities in the northwest Gilgit-Baltistan region arrested Daulat Jan...

Indian authorities detain local photojournalist, accuse him of throwing stones

September 11, 2017 6:06 PM ET

New Delhi, September 11, 2017--Indian authorities should immediately release Kamran Yousuf, a freelance photojournalist who was working in the Jammu and Kashmir region and has been held without charge since September 4, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

On the front lines of reporting in Guerrero, Mexico's most-violent state

September 11, 2017 5:02 PM ET

Several months ago, during a three-day journalism congress in Mexico City, a reporter from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero took out his cell phone and scrolled through a series of pictures. The photos showed teenagers smiling at the camera, carrying automatic rifles, and sporting bulletproof vests....

New York, September 11, 2017--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Paraguayan journalist Cándido Figueredo Ruiz following the release from prison of an alleged drug trafficker who had previously planned to kill him....

Independent journalist Yulia Latynina flees Russia following attacks

September 11, 2017 3:12 PM ET

New York, September 11, 2017--Russian journalist Yulia Latynina, who writes a column for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and hosts a weekly radio show on Ekho Moskvy, has fled Russia after a series of attacks, according to local and international reports. In the latest incident on September 3, attackers...

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 10, 2017

September 11, 2017 11:21 AM ET

Court orders four Cumhuriyet managers and journalists to remain in custody for trial A Turkish court remanded four members of the Cumhuriyet newspaper yesterday who are on trial for terrorism-related charges, according to reports from their employer and Reuters....

Journalists on trial in France after calling Azerbaijan a dictatorship

September 7, 2017 3:58 PM ET

New York, September 7, 2017--The French justice ministry should dismiss criminal defamation charges the government of Azerbaijan brought against journalists Elise Lucet and Laurent Richard, and allow the pair to continue their work without obstruction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

Kazakh editor convicted of money laundering, banned from journalism

September 7, 2017 12:33 PM ET

New York, September 7, 2017--A Kazakh court today handed down a suspended prison sentence to Zhanbolat Mamay, editor of the independent newspaper Sayasi kalam/Tribuna, for charges of money laundering, and banned him from working as a journalist for three years, according to media reports. Mamay said he plans to...

Separatists in east Ukraine 'sentence' blogger to 14 years in captivity

September 6, 2017 5:34 PM ET

Pro-Russia separatists in the rebel stronghold of Luhansk, east Ukraine, took Eduard Nedelyayev, a Ukrainian blogger, captive in November last year, according to local media reports. The group claims authority over a region it has named the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR)....

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 3, 2017

September 6, 2017 12:42 PM ET

Columnist's passport returned Turkish authorities on September 7 returned Aslı Erdoğan, a former advisory board member of the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem and a frequent columnist, her passport, according to the Hürriyet Daily News website, which cites Erdoğan's lawyer....

Bolivian radio journalist under house arrest, facing charges after covering protest

September 5, 2017 5:45 PM ET

Bogotá, September 5, 2017--Bolivian authorities must drop charges against a radio journalist arrested while covering a violent demonstration last week in the capital city of La Paz, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

Israel and the Palestinian Authority seek to silence the same media outlet

September 5, 2017 5:09 PM ET

Beirut, September 5, 2017--Israel should allow the al-Hurriya media network and its affiliates to resume work without fear of harassment, and the Palestinian Authority should release Ayman al-Qawasme, the chairman of the same media network, from its custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

Editor of Indian newspaper shot dead outside her home

September 5, 2017 4:40 PM ET

New Delhi, September 5, 2017--Authorities in India's Karnataka state must thoroughly investigate and bring to justice the killers of Gauri Lankesh, an independent journalist who was shot dead today outside her home in Bangalore, the Committee to Protect Journalists said....

Prominent newspaper folds under official pressure in Cambodia

September 5, 2017 12:15 PM ET

Bangkok, September 5, 2017--The Cambodia Daily stopped publication yesterday under official threat of forced closure over allegations of tax evasion, according to a statement released by the paper. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the silencing of the newspaper and called for an end to Cambodia's harassment of all...

CPJ Highlights: September edition

September 5, 2017 9:00 AM ET

Press Freedom Tracker continues to document press freedom incidents in the U.S. "I'm really doing this to show you how damned dishonest these people are," President Trump said during his August rally in Phoenix. "Truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories. ... They...

DRC journalist faces defamation charge over report on minister

September 1, 2017 4:56 PM ET

New York City, September 1, 2017--Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should drop all charges against Jeef Mwingamb, editor-in-chief of the weekly Le Fédéral, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....

North Korea sentences two South Korean journalists to death in absentia

September 1, 2017 4:49 PM ET

New York, September 1, 2017--A North Korean court has sentenced the South Korean journalists Son Hyo-rim, of Dong-A Ilbo, and Yang Ji-ho, of Chosun Ilbo, and the papers' respective director generals, Kim Jae Ho and Pang Sang Hun to death, the country's state media reported yesterday. The Committee to...

Cameroon releases three journalists jailed under anti-terror law

September 1, 2017 1:57 PM ET

New York, September 1, 2017--The office of President Paul Biya announced August 30 that Cameroon is ending criminal proceedings against those detained during unrest in the country's two English-speaking regions. Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, political editor of The Sun, Tim Finnian, editor of Life Time magazine, and Hans Achomba, a...